Oil prices rose on Thursday after falling US crude inventories, along with increased refinery intakes and a rise in Chinese imports, helped lift oil demand expectations in the US and China in terms of crude consumption.
The Reuters news agency writes that on Thursday morning.
At the time of writing, the July contract for Brent oil rose by 0.57 percent to 84.06 dollars a barrel. At the same time, American light oil (WTI) is up 0.65 percent to 79.50 dollars per barrel. barrel.
Market analyst Tina Teng tells Reuters that the market is lifted by a larger-than-expected decline in US inventory figures, as well as good trade balance figures from China.
Crude oil inventories in the United States fell last week by 1.4 million barrels, according to Reuters, where the market had expected a decline of 1.1 million barrels. At the same time, Thursday’s trade figures from China, which is the world’s largest oil importer, showed that the country imported approximately 10.88 million barrels of crude oil per day in April – corresponding to an increase of 5.5 per cent from the previous year.
Despite the new optimism in the market, market strategist at IG, Yeap Jun Rong, says that “while there may be a short-term relief for oil prices, it may be difficult to get back to the peak in April above $90 grasped”, according to Reuters.
Raised selling price
On Monday, it emerged that Saudi Arabia increased the selling price of Arab Light oil to Asian customers for the third month in a row.
They did this as a new measure to tighten the oil market and avoid a surplus of oil, reported Bloomberg.
State energy company Aramco announced it is raising the price for June delivery of Arab Light by 90 cents to $2.90 above the official selling price for Middle East crude. These prices apply to customers in Asia, where by far the largest customer group is located. The prices of other types of oil will also increase.
With Saudi Arabia at the forefront, OPEC has for a long time aimed to increase global oil prices in order to strengthen its own budgets. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has previously estimated that the kingdom needs an oil price of close to 100 dollars just to balance the budget.
